Terrebonne Parish Council tries, fails to decide on new leader

Wednesday

Jan 16, 2013 at 9:04 AM

The Jan. 9 Terrebonne Parish Council meeting turned into a showdown among council members who were unable to elect a new leader.

Chance RyanStaff Writer

The Jan. 9 Terrebonne Parish Council meeting turned into a showdown among council members who were unable to elect a new leader. Four members from the board backed one-year District 4 Councilwoman Beryl Amedée, while four others backed one-year District 7 Councilman Danny Babin. The vote went as follows:For Amedée: Greg Hood, John Navy, Arlanda Williams, Amedée.For Babin: Russell Hornsby, Pete Lambert, Dirk Guidry, BabinThe nine council members voted twice but could not break the tie. Councilwoman Christa Duplantis chose not to vote. Council Chairwoman Williams motioned to postpone the vote until next meeting to “let some of this stuff cool down.”“I’m not going to waste any more of taxpayers’ time to keep calling the same vote to get the same outcome,” she said.Hornsby, of District 6, was elected council vice chairman by acclamation. The council will meet again at 6 p.m. Jan. 23 at the Government Tower, 8026 Main St. The stalemate over the vacancy for council chair has some council members saying back-door politics may be involved. “It seemed like at the last minute someone who was running” cut a deal to put somebody else in, said Babin during an interview days after the meeting. “I assume that person is still going to run.” Babin, a former chairman of the Terrebonne Planning and Zoning Commission, said the parish can do without petty squabbles over who will be elected. “Hopefully it will be resolved so we can move forward as a council,” he said. “But it depends on how much back-door politics is actually being played by other people.” Duplantis, a 13-year council veteran, said she chose not to vote in light of recent events that have led her to question whether certain council members have hidden agendas. “I’m not the one who has been doing back-door politics,” she said. “I’m really fed up with all the lies. Danny Babin has been going around saying quite a few things, (but) he does not know what’s going on.”Duplantis said she’s disappointed with Councilman Pete Lambert, the outgoing vice chairman, because he gave her his word he would support her for chairwoman but backed out suddenly. Lambert, she said, told her two days prior to the vote he was dealing with a lot of pressure from his constituents but didn’t go into detail. Duplantis said she’s not sure what’s going on but was disappointed “to get a call from Mr. Lambert two days before the vote and say that there is pressure. And he’s bringing up names that have been in politics before that are digging into this. He sounded strange.”Lambert said he isn’t aware of Duplantis’ allegations and hopes a decision is made at next week’s council meeting. Duplantis said she’s still undecided, but her vote will weigh heavily on which council member can convince her that he or she is better suited for the position. “They are going to have to talk to me and really tell me why they feel as though this is the position they need and what they can do in the next year that I couldn’t do,” she said.Given her seniority on the council, Duplantis said she is more qualified to head the council — though not without support from the majority of the council.“If they are going to play games, they can at least talk to me. I just want to know more.”